The Yellowjackets, from left: Jimmy Haslip, Russell Ferrante,
Marcus Baylor and Bob Mintzer
Summer weather is definitely back in St. Louis this week, and that's likely to send large numbers of folks to area pools, lakes, rivers and streams as a way to cool off. But if you're staying in town and looking for another way to be cool, there are some jazz events happening that are worth your time. Let's go to the highlights.
Jazz at the Bistro technically wraps up its 2005-06 season this week with the Yellowjackets, who open tonight and run through Saturday. (I say "technically" because the club will go dark for two weeks, then reopen for a three-week summer series in July; more on that later.) The current edition of the 'Jackets features St. Louis native Marcus Baylor on drums, and according to this New York Times review of a recent performance at NYC's Iridium, he's playing a significant role in the group these days. You may also be interested in reading this brief interview with keyboardist Russell Ferrante done before their gig this past Monday in Indianapolis.
UPDATE - 10:45 a.m., 6/15/06: Marcus Baylor also has a brief interview with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson in today's paper. Read it here.
There are also a couple of noteworthy local shows tonight. Over at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the St. Louis Stompers will perform a free concert of traditional jazz as part of the Whitaker Music Festival. And at Brandt's in U. City, the fine guitarist Todd Mosby will make a comparatively rare club appearance with his trio.
Elsewhere in local music, singer and pianist Leslie Maclean's Trio performs at Finale on Thursday, the same night that vocalist Ron Wilkinson will take the stage at Cookie's Jazz and More. And Brandt's has another potentially interesting booking on Saturday, as the group Jazzism makes what I believe is its debut at the club. I don't know a whole lot about the band yet, save for the fact that local veteran Raymond Eldridge is the bass player, but his presence alone suggests they're worth at least an investigative "look and listen" at some point. I played with Raymond a few times some years ago in the free improv group Open End, and very much enjoyed his loping sense of swing and laid-back personality. Since then, he's suffered some health problems that curtailed his activity for a while, but from what I hear he's back in full effect, which is good news for sure.
As always, this is but a small slice of what's available for your listening pleasure this weekend, so be sure to check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar for a more complete listing of gigs.
(If you have calendar items, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes at yahoo dot com.)
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